Supporting Human Cognitive Writing Processes: Towards a Taxonomy of Writing Support Systems

In the field of natural language processing (NLP), advances in transformer architectures and large-scale language models have led to a plethora of designs and research on a new class of information systems (IS) called writing support systems, which help users plan, write, and revise their texts. Despite the growing interest in writing support systems in research, there needs to be more common knowledge about the different design elements of writing support systems. Our goal is, therefore, to develop a taxonomy to classify writing support systems into three main categories (technology, task/structure, and user). We evaluated and refined our taxonomy with seven interviewees with domain expertise, identified three clusters in the reviewed literature, and derived five archetypes of writing support system applications based on our categorization. Finally, we formulate a new research agenda to guide researchers in the development and evaluation of writing support systems

Learner autonomy: The complexity of control‐shift

It is generally held that constructing learner autonomy (LA) requires a pedagogical shift of control from teachers to students. It is also understood that the development of learner autonomy relates largely to teacher autonomy (TA), which requires school managers to relinquish some degree of control to teachers. However, from a socio‐political perspective, the construct of autonomy is a right also extended to educational managers (MA). Thus, a problem arises: how can the three levels of controlshifts co‐exist and survive in harmony, and ideally, thrive each in its own way? Based on a recent case study, this paper aims to explore the complexity of the dynamic interaction between these three types of autonomy within an educational hierarchy. The study was conducted in a private Chinese secondary school which was promoting whole‐person development through a comprehensive innovation project involving all its academic staff members. The participants comprised nine English teachers, the principal, and the school’s executive director. Data collection was conducted through interviews, classroom observations followed by post‐lesson discussions, and the researcher’s field notes. Specifically, three questions were addressed in this paper focusing on managers’ perceptions of LA, a classroom instruction model intended to cultivate LA, and an in‐house professional development scheme to facilitate TA, all of which impacted on teachers’ professional decision‐making. The findings display a complex picture of these issues, and imply the importance of a genuine shared understanding of the nature of autonomy and the need to carefully ensure the optimal balance among the three types of autonomy in the design and implementation of curriculum innovations

Mapping readability of the texts and reading ability of the users

Reading activity cannot be separated from the process of comprehending the text, which also need the reader’s background knowledge. In preparing the materials (texts), the writers usually have to think about whose readers who are going to read the texts to provide the suitable materials (texts) for certain readers. Finding the right fit between the texts and the readers become the main concern for the writers or composers then. In the formal area of learning, students must be provided by the texts or materials which are suit with their different level. Readability is the study about the text and how it is suit with the readers. This study is intended to find the readability of “New Step Up 2: Reading” book published by Center for Language Development (PPB) IAIN Walisongo Semarang and the Students’ comprehensibility using this book. This study use the quantitative and qualitative approach. The data are obtained from the result of the analysis on the readability level of the text and the students’ reading final examination scores and the results of students answer on questionaire and the information dealing with the book are gotten through interview. The results of readability analysis show that there are four texts that are match for high school levels, one text is match for college graduate level, and five texts is matched for college level. The texts intended to students at college level are 50 % of the overall texts, it means that the texts are actually in the right level. The students final test is to find out students reading ability and the results are 512 students or 65.56% who get score more than 70. However, it is also obvious that there are 143 students or 18.31% who are in the average level as their scores are in the scale of 60-69. There are only 126 students or 16.13 % who get below 60. This level needs more enrichment and effort to develop students reading ability. In addition, there are several factors affecting students’ comprehension. The factors are students familiarity with the topics of the texts including background knowledge, and difficult vocabulary faced by the students. The study recommend that readability level should be provided to make sure the appropriateness of the texts level as the sources for teaching learning process; factors affecting students’ reading ability such as readability level of texts, students’ motivation, and teaching-learning strategies should be given serious attention; and fostering reading habit is necessary for students to develop their reading skill

Examining the impact of technology-mediated oral communicative tasks on students’ willingness to communicate and communicative performance

This study examines the impact of technology-mediated pedagogical tasks on students’ willingness to communicate and communicative performance in the intermediate level of Spanish at Iowa State University. Drawing from the framework on technology-mediated tasks by Gonzalez-Lloret & Ortega, 2014, and the World-Readiness Standards for communicative performance of the American Council on the Teaching for Foreign Languages, the technology-mediated pedagogical tasks were designed and implemented over the course a semester on the video platform Flipgrid. A quasi-experimental mixed-methods research with two groups of participants: (1) technology-mediated tasks (FG), and comparison group (CG) was conducted. Quantitative data sources included a pre-post survey on learners’ willingness to communicate, scores on speaking quizzes, scores on final oral presentation, scores and analytic data from the Flipgrid tasks. The qualitative data included learners’ reflections on their participation in the technology-mediated oral (FG group only), learners’ midterm and final survey, focus-group interviews with students, and semi-structured interviews with instructors. Results of this study indicated that the implementation of the technology-mediated pedagogical tasks facilitated students’ increase in their willingness to communicate and communicative performance, as well as in the use of Spanish in spontaneous ways. In addition, the findings suggest that students in the FG group perceived increased confidence in their speaking skills while participating in the tasks within a safe and free-from judgment learning environment. The findings also showed the instructor’s mixed perceptions while facilitating the technology-mediated tasks. The course instructor believed that students’ apparent growth in their communicative performance responded more from students’ interest and motivation than from extended practice. Contrastively, students in the CG had statistically significantly higher scores in the post-survey than students in the FG, specifically for the variable international posture. In addition, the CG group’s instructor perceived that students’ speaking skills related mostly to the learning environment and the support provided. This dissertation shows that the design of the pedagogical tasks is closely connected to the affordances of the technology applications, therefore, placing greater emphasis on evaluating how the technology can leverage language learning. This study has pedagogical as well as theoretical implications regarding the design of technology-mediated pedagogical tasks and the conditions of the learning environment that can foster or hinder students’ willingness to participate and communicative performance

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation reports on practitioner inquiry into a year-long curriculum in middle school Spanish II built around Latina/o cultural topics with social justice implications. A comprehensible input approach supported both the development of a core vocabulary in Spanish and discussion of these issues. Translanguaging-accessing linguistic resources across supposedly separate languages-allowed teacher and students to heighten complexity and comprehensibility. The study used a critical sociocultural theory lens and mixed methods to perform case studies of two classes with a focus on three students of varying positionalities. I asked (1) how the two classes interpreted and applied the central social justice concept used in the course (bilocal culture-crossing, BCC ), (2) how much their Spanish improved, (3) how motivating and satisfying they found the experience, and (4) how case study students' positionalities shaped their experiences of the curriculum. The first and last research questions yielded six findings: First, students joined me in translanguaging in order to make themselves understood around the complexity of power relations. Second, students actively used discourses of taking others' perspectives. Third, students increasingly recognized and spoke back to issues of unfairness. Fourth, students also began to use the term BCC as a way to discipline and admonish others. Fifth, student resistance centered on the term I had coined and, in one class more than the other, on perceived one-sidedness in some of the videos we discussed. Sixth, students participated in our BCC discourse community through processes of self-recognition work. For case study students this meant using their positionalities as lenses with which to understand BCC. The one case study student of color appropriated BCC in a way that constituted Walter Mignolo's concept of border thinking. In response to the other research questions, students' Spanish proficiency grew sufficiently to meet these state and district objectives, with Fourth Period showing more growth and Sixth Period attaining higher proficiency; and Fourth Period was less satisfied by the experience, citing issues with relevance, comprehensibility, and clarity of language goals. Implications for theory, practice and future research are discussed, including the significance of the study for Latinas/os in world language classrooms

DEVELOPING MULTIMODAL DIGITAL LITERACY: THE APPLICATION OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING AS A NEW AVENUE FOR EFFECTIVE ENGLISH LEARNING WITH EFL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KOREA

The purpose of this mixed method research study is to investigate the educational effects of digital storytelling as a communicative language learning strategy in an EFL elementary school class in Korea. In order to find out the benefits and challenges of digital storytelling in EFL class, this study was conducted for 12 weeks in a rural elementary school. Digital storytelling was selected and utilized in the after-school English class, as main teaching and learning tool. Guiding research questions were 1) what are the potential benefits and challenges of digital storytelling for young EFL learners when it is employed in a rural context as a language learning activity? i. e.) the change of motivation, reading, writing, listening, speaking ability, and 2) What does the English teacher find to be benefits and challenges of using a digital storytelling as pedagogical strategies in Korean EFL classroom?. In order to answer those questions, a survey questionnaire on students’ learning attitude was distributed, and pre- and post-test were employed to investigate the difference in terms of the ability of reading, writing, listening and speaking over time. In addition, student’s reflective self-evaluation log, teacher’s lecture report, classroom observation and in/formal interviews with focal students and the teacher were also collected to figure out the factors which gave an influence to students and the teacher. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed based on the characteristics of each data set. The quantitative data results indicated that students show overall improvement in academic performance in terms of reading, writing, listening and speaking. In addition to English proficiency, the learning attitude and motivation toward English learning was elevated, followed by the increase of their critical, creative thinking, and digital literacy skills. The other results of qualitative data highlighted that the English teacher and students were satisfied with the learning experience with digital storytelling in that it played a key role in motivating the learning process and was an effective tool for active learning. To sum up, it seems clear that the digital storytelling activity, as integrated instructional strategy has the potential to shed light on helping EFL learners in a rural school to develop English skills as well as to change their learning attitude toward studying English. In addition, digital storytelling also increased skills other than academic skills related to learning English, and it also helped to improve students’ communicative ability, encouraging their collaboration, motivation and creativity to be heightened

An audience-oriented approach to online communication in English: the case of European university museums' websites

This thesis investigates online communication in English on European university museums’ websites. It explores the extent to which the production of institutional web texts in English is informed by an audience-oriented approach, and more specifically by the awareness of the need to address readers with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches provides the methodological framework for this research. First, a survey of English-version websites of European university museums is carried out to assess the extent to which the latter produce content in English on their websites. A corpus including a selection of web pages in English from European university museums’ websites is analysed by focusing on two aspects: the extent to which texts comply with web writing guidelines, and the extent to which they establish a relationship with their intended readers through stance and engagement features. Finally, semi-structured interviews with staff from a subset of museums are conducted to shed light on the creation of museum web contents in English. The results of the survey suggest that university museums in Europe tend to provide an English-version website. The text analysis shows that university museums in the UK seem to be more committed to an audience-oriented approach to communication than those in other countries. Finally, insights from the interviews reveal that the production of texts in English does not seem to be informed by the idea of a specific intended audience, and even less so a linguistically diverse audience. These results contribute to current research on the conceptualisation of museum audiences, the processes underpinning museum communication and the use of English as an international language on institutional websites. The research stresses the need for an interdisciplinary exchange between museum and heritage studies on the one hand and linguistics and intercultural studies on the other hand